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Adecade ago, the Abu Dhabi Festival (ADF) raised its first curtain with a modest programme highlighted by Germany’s Tübingen Chamber Orchestra.

It was the passion for the arts in general and classical music in particular of Hoda Al Khamees Kanoo, the founder of Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation — and of ADF — that turned this small annual music event into a festival as famous as England’s BBC Proms, Germany’s Bayreuth Festival or the US’s Aspen Music Festival.

“The Festival’s vision is to both support and capture the multi-cultural essence of Abu Dhabi. Aligned with the capital city’s urban planning and economic diversification, the ADF has supported Abu Dhabi’s identity over the past 10 years as a crossroads of creativity. By creating a platform for community arts, we are fostering a spirit of discovery and an appetite for cultural expression that strengthens society,” said Al Khamees Kanoo.

Over these past 10 years, the ADF has grown into a month-long, nationwide celebration of music, art and dance, with a full calendar of educational and community programmes. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Carnegie Hall Academy are now regular fixtures in the festival’s programme. The Likes of Bolshoi Ballet, London Philharmonic Orchestra, soprano opera singer Angela Gheorghiu, legendary jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui with his extraordinary dance performance Sutra, featuring Shaolin monks, Anoushka Shankar have made it a very tough act to follow for the 2013 edition. Yet, for this 10^th anniversary ADF, taking place from March 3 to 31, the main programme is pretty spectacular. Here is a glimpse!

Plácido at the palace!

He is the world’s most revered opera singer! He has sung 140 different roles, more than any other tenor in the annals of music, having over 3600 career performances. His more than 100 recordings have earned him 12 Grammy Awards, including three Latin Grammys. He has made more than 50 music videos and won two Emmy Awards. He is Plácido Domingo and he will be performing on the Emirate Palace’s stage here, in Abu Dhabi, on March 20.

Starting today, tickets are only available at full price, meaning Dh295 (balcony), Dh495 (pearl) and Dh795 (diamond), but his voice is worth every fils!

Described by international critics as “the king of opera”, “a true renaissance man in music” and “the greatest operatic artist of modern times”, the Spanish tenor celebrated, in 2011, not only his 70^th birthday but also his 50^th anniversary as a singer of leading roles and the 40^th anniversary of his Covent Garden debut. Following his belief, “If I rest, I rust”, there is no sign of Domingo slowing down.

His Abu Dhabi concert will feature soprano Ana María Martínez, who returns to the ADF after her acclaimed performance in the 2010 Puccini Festival Opera production of La Boheme. Their operatic arias will be accompanied by the renowned Czech Philharmonic and Domingo’s long-time friend, conductor Eugene Kohn.

The Czech Philharmonic

It was heard in New York’s Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam ‘s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin’s Philharmonie, London’s Royal Festival Hall and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Now, it is Abu Dhabi audience’s turn to have a live listen to the Czech Philharmonic, one of the world’s most remarkable orchestras.

For over a century, the Czech Philharmonic has represented the pinnacle of Czech cultural achievement. In 1896, Dvoøák conducted the orchestra’s debut performance at the Rudolfinum in Prague, still home to the orchestra’s Prague concerts, and the centre for its new Orchestral Academy.

In 1908, Mahler conducted the Czech Philharmonic for the world premiere of his Symphony No 7. The orchestra’s reputation grew under Czech conductors Václav Talich, Rafael Kubelík, Karel Anèerl and Václav Neumann. In 1990, Jiøí Bìlohlávek became chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic for the first time and, after over two decades, he returned to the orchestra as its chief conductor in 2012.

During the ADF, the Czech Philharmonic will accompany not only the Plácido Domingo concert, but also violinist Joshua Bell on March 22 and the acclaimed baritone Byrn Terfel, alongside rising star Viktoria Yastrebova during a Festival Gala on March 26.

Joshua Bell

The son of a psychologist and a therapist, American Grammy award winner Joshua Bell began taking violin lessons at the age of four, after his mother discovered that her son had taken rubber bands from around the house and stretched them across the handles of his dresser drawer to pluck out music he had heard her play on the piano. Over 30 years later, people call him the “poet of the violin”. And not just any violin!

Bell’s instrument is a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin called the Gibson ex Huberman, which was made in 1713 during Antonio Stradivari’s (world’s best violin maker) Golden Era. Its previous owner was Bronis³aw Huberman. Bell, who met Huberman one day, held and played the violin, and its owner at the time jokingly told Bell that the violin could be his for $4 million. Shortly thereafter, by chance, Bell came across the same violin again and discovered it was about to be sold to a German industrialist to become part of a collection. Bell claimed he “was practically in tears”, so he sold his violin, the Tom Tyler Stradivarius, for a little more than $2 million and made the purchase of the Gibson ex Huberman for a little under the $4 million asking price.

He is expected to perform in Abu Dhabi on his 1713 Huberman Stradivarius, one of his greatest concertos, Bruch’s lyrical and passionate Violin Concerto No 1 in G Minor in a repertoire accompanied by the Czech Philharmonic on March 22.

The Mariinsky Theatre

Just as every year, the ADF must have an operatic performance, so it must have a ballet act. This March it will be down to the Russians again (who better?) to enchant the Abu Dhabi audience.

The colourful evening of dance featuring four distinctly different but equally compelling short ballets, all originally choreographed by the legendary Michel Fokine, is created by the Mariinsky Theatre, one of the most famous classic ballet companies in the world.

The over 200 years old Mariinsky Theatre, symbol of St Petersburg — it was founded in 1740 — becoming the first musical theatre in Russia, remaining the academy of Russian opera and ballet since. Named the Mariinsky after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II, the company has produced a myriad of outstanding artists such as singers Ivan Yershov, Medea and Nikolai Figner, Fyodor Chaliapin and Sophia Preobrazhenskaya, and ballet dancers Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Galina Ulanova, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The Mariinsky Theatre ballet-masters Marius Petipa, Michel Fokine and George Balanchine played a vital role in the development of ballet worldwide.

Their performance here, featuring “Chopiniana”, “Le Spectre de la Rose”, “The Dying Swan” and culminating in Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade”, will be on March 14 and 15.

The Rahbani Legacy

In celebration of the 10^th edition, the ADF has specially commissioned a tribute to the hugely influential musical legacy of Lebanon’s Rahbani Brothers — Assi and Mansour. The Rahbani Legacy, produced by the acclaimed composers Ghadi and Oussama (the son of Mansour) Rahbani, explores the Rahbani Brothers’ contribution to the music, theatre and poetry of the Middle East during the 20^th century. The performance traces the legacy of Assi and Mansour, who, alongside the legendary Lebanese singer Fairuz, helped usher in a new epoch of musical theatre that would span the Arab world for more than 60 years.

The Rahbani Legacy features works by Assi and Mansour, as well as solo creations by Mansour Rahbani, in addition to his collaborations with Oussama and Ghadi, all of which are presented in a new orchestration specially created for the ADF. The performance will be on March 25.

Full programme of the ADF is available on www.abudhabifestival.ae.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com